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Friday, February 5, 2010

Post 1107 - Comicbook Censorship

I haven't written about comics on this blog lately, but I grew up reading them. I learned to read from them much more so than I did from school. That either says something about me, or the Nova Scotia educational system. I'll let you decide which.

I was trolling on Mark Evanier's excellent newsfromme blog an hour or so ago. Mark writes a lot about comics, having written them for 40 years now and having many friends in the industry. He embedded a link to a youtube video about William M. Gaines, long dead now, but best known for being the publisher of Mad Magazine. Back in the 1950's, though, he published horror comics like "The Vault of Horror" and "Tales from the Crypt". Vilified by senate subcommittees and religious zealots who had no respect for freedom of expression, EC Comics was driven out of business and Gaines spent the rest of his life concentrating on Mad Magazine.

Gaines lived long enough to see EC Comics attain respectability and to see "Tales from the Crypt" become a tv show.

Here is a tribute to Gaines and EC Comics.

Gaines also appeared on an episode of "To Tell the Truth" around 1970. I thought I'd include that link as well.

Comics censorship is discussed in this clip from a documentary that was on the American history channel.

Lastly, they discuss a book about what comics went through nearly 60 years ago. Most people have no idea this happened, and this book is long overdue. It is in my bedroom waiting to be read.